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Court orders UKIP to pay out in MEP defamation case

The United Kingdom Independence Party took a “deliberate, informed and calculated decision” to make sure a defamation case against one of its MEPs wasn’t settled before last year’s general election, a court ruled Thursday.

A judge at the High Court said the decision was taken for “reasons of party political advantage” and UKIP must pay a portion of the legal fees, the Press Association reported.

The case involves Jane Collins, a UKIP MEP, who last year was ordered to pay £54,000 in damages to each of three Labour members of the Westminster parliament over remarks she made in 2014 about a child abuse scandal in the northern town of Rotherham, the area the MPs represent.

She was also told to pay their legal costs and make an interim payment of £120,000.

Collins had claimed the MPs knew many details of the scandal — in which more than 1,400 children were abused over a 16-year period — but chose not to intervene. The three Labour MPs sued her for libel and slander but Collins refused to withdraw her remarks during last year’s general election campaign and, the court heard, repeatedly tried to delay the case.

The Press Association said Collins eventually made an offer to make amends which was accepted — but the amount of compensation could not be agreed upon.

On Thursday, the court said none of the money had been paid, and UKIP should bear some of the costs because it had provided financial support to Collins and sought to delay the case for its own gain. The Rotherham Advertiser said UKIP was held responsible for paying an estimated £200,000 of Collins’ £690,000 legal costs, an overall figure that had increased by nearly £500,000 over the past year.